Nairobi, Athi agencies ordered to fix sewer lines in two weeks

Water agencies bosses might soon land in big trouble for failing to fix Nairobi's sewer lines.

Athi Water Works Development Agency boss Michael Thuita and Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company boss Nahashon Muguna risk arrest if they do not fix broken, blocked and nonoperating sewer lines.

The National Environment Management Authority over the weekend said most of the pollution in Nairobi results from broken and dysfunctional sewer lines.

Consequently, Nema director general Mamo Mamo has given Muguna and Thuita two weeks to fix the problem.

He said Athi Water needs to work on improving sewerage coverage in the capital city while Nairobi Water needs to ensure the city has a functional sewer line.

“We have a lot of broken sewers in Nairobi which result in pollution. As Nema we are giving the two bosses two weeks to fix the problem. Failure to which we shall arrest and take them to court,” Boru said.

In May last year, Nairobi Water boss Muguna was arrested by Nema officials for failing to stop the disposal of raw sewage into Nairobi River.

Nema said only a half of Nairobi has sewer coverage, but less than 20 per cent has proper coverage.

The Nema boss explained areas like Karen rely on septic tanks since they are not served by sewer lines. But once they are full, the waste gets into the stormwater drainage all the way to the rivers. Owners are supposed to clean them regularly. 

Mamo said 42 industrial facilities have been served with closure notices for polluting the rivers.

The firms had been given a grace period last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic

“The 42 firms have only two weeks to set up functioning effluent treatment plants. Nema police units and environmental inspectors have already visited two facilities and issued six improvement orders to the industries,” Mamo added.

Nema has also identified 28 concealed illegal pipes discharging effluent into the river from residential areas. They were blocked to prevent more discharge.

Mamo noted that several residential apartments in Nairobi discharge raw sewage into the Nairobi River.

“The issue is prevalent around the Kilimani and Kikuyu areas all the way to Wanyi Bridge. The flats are not connected to sewer lines and depend on septic tanks. When full, they do a bypass and have the concealed pipes empty into the river,” he explained.

Nema has unearthed 75 illegal structures along the river, 142 illegal discharge points and 42 industrial facilities that have been marked for demolition.

Also after mapping out all the informal settlements along the river basin, Nema has identified 54 illegal dumpsites set for closure.

“Since solid waste management is a devolved function, the responsibility rests with the Nairobi Metropolitan Services and we have asked them to crack the whip and get rid of all the illegal dumpsites,” Mamo added.

(Edited by V. Graham)